Canal sights in Panama
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Panama Canal
The Canal is both an engineering marvel and one of the most significant waterways on the planet. Seeing a huge ship nudge its way through the narrow canal with vast tracts of virgin jungle on both sides is truly an unforgettable sight. As impressive as it is now, an ambitious expansion plan is set to completely transform the the canal.
Stretching 80km (49mi) from Panama City on the Pacific coast to Colón on the Atlantic coast, the Canal provides passage for nearly 14,000 ocean-going vessels per year. The easiest and best way to visit the canal is to go to the Miraflores Locks, on the northeastern fringe of Panama City, where a platform offers visitors a good view of the l…
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Changuinola Canal
The boat ride from Changuinola to Bocas del Toro travels through the old canal formerly used by the banana plantations - it's a scenic trip that's well worth taking. The canal was abandoned years ago, and until the mid-1990s it was a bird watcher's dream. Today however, much of the jungle on both sides of the waterway has been cleared for cattle pasture, though there is still wildlife in the area.
In 1903, a 15km (9mi) canal connecting the Río Changuinola and Bahía de Almirante was dug parallel to the Caribbean shoreline, running within several hundred meters of it for most of its length. The work was begun six years earlier by the Snyder Brothers Banana Company to facili…
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Gatún Locks
The Gatún Locks raise southbound ships 29.5m (96.7ft) from Caribbean waters to the level of Lago Gatún. From there, ships travel 37km (23mi) to the Pedro Miguel Locks, which lower southbound ships 9.3m (30.5ft) to Lago Miraflores, a small body of water that separates the two sets of Pacific locks. The ships are lowered to sea level at the Miraflores Locks.
Not only are the Gatún Locks the largest of the three sets, but their size is simply mind-boggling. In his superlative book, The Path Between the Seas, David McCullough notes that if stood on its end, a single lock would have been the tallest structure on Earth at the time it was built, taller by several meters than …
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